When I read “The Old Pond,” Matsuo Basho’s most famous haiku, I was astonished at how this undoubtedly brilliant Japanese poet from the seventeenth century described an event in a few words, (The Haiku Handbook, page 9).
old pond…
a frog leaps in
water’s sound
The simplicity of this scene helped me see opportunities that, as an elementary school teacher, I hadn’t seen before. In my teaching practice, I focused on integrating many subjects into a daily lesson plan in one coherent program. Basho’s poetry encouraged me to think about new ideas for language, math, science, social studies, and art in their natural unity. Primary school children could be introduced to all these subjects during one day without separation between them. Teaching haiku might be the way to achieve this goal.
Before I share my love for haiku, let’s review some important features of this genre. Tim Myers, author of the book for children titled Basho and the Fox, wrote in the preface to his story: A haiku is a short poem that usually has only seventeen syllables. But in those few syllables you can sometimes see and feel what the poet saw and felt, as if you’d been there at that very moment.
Some editors of haiku magazines printed in English preferred haiku written in the “five-seven-five form” (The Haiku Handbook, page 67). This meant that the first line in haiku contained five syllables, the second seven, and the third five. Eric W. Amann, Toronto medical doctor and poet, edited and published the first Canadian haiku magazine Haiku from 1967 to 1970. He concentrated on the content of haiku and the sparseness of its language, calling it “the wordless poem.” (The Haiku Handbook, page 67). In fact, the number of syllables doesn’t always have to be seventeen. Japanese poets do not count syllables at all. Rather, they count onji. The Japanese word onji does not mean “syllable,” it means “sound symbol” and refers to one of the phonetic characters used in writing Japanese phonetic script (The Haiku Handbook, page 100).
It is important to mention that Basho in his writings was very sensitive to the shapes and forms of nature as it was beautifully described by Dawnine Spivak in his book titled Grass Sandals, The Travels of Basho. He also suggested that each haiku includes language that appeals to two of the five senses—sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste—or the additional sense of movement.
Now that I have explained some basic characteristics of the haiku genre, I am ready to share my more or less intuitive encounters with haiku. When I was still teaching, one of my favourite books for read-aloud sessions in primary grades was The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. The very first words in the story illustrate the connection with haiku:
Once there was a tree…
and
she loved
a
little boy.
In these eleven words, Shel Silverstein was very clear what genre he was using. The rest of the story could be summarized in one verse from his book:
And the boy loved the tree…
Everything in between, before, and after is about love, emotions, the purpose of life, and nature. Even the way the words were often printed on a page in the form of visual poetry, vertically from top to bottom, was relating this story to the Japanese language, culture, and literature.
My other encounter with haiku was even more surprising. My husband’s granddaughter who spent the whole day with us at the age of two, said in our car when we were driving her back to her parents: “Tired, milk, home…” It was a profound moment in my life when I realized that words could be put together in a way that tells the story without using grammar or full sentences. These three words, imprinted in my mind, have served me for years as an example of how a very young child could use poetic expressions in order to describe feelings, moods, and the immediate surroundings.
There is creativity involved in writing lesson plans for primary school students, especially if we see the whole picture first and then we focus on the details. We want our students to be independent. We want them to respond to nature, literature, music, and visual art in their own unobstructed ways. Haiku could be very helpful with that.
Sally M. Walker, in her book titled Earth Verse; Haiku from the Ground Up, shared her brief, poetic reflections about Earth. Illustrated with beautiful simplicity by William Grill, the book can help incorporate language, science, geometry, geography, and art in a weekly lesson plan. Starting from a read-aloud session, through class discussions about different scientific terms, a walk in a park or a field trip to search for shapes and textures in nature, finally drawing and writing, using just a few necessary words, would build up students’ knowledge in an exciting and natural way full of surprises and discoveries.
As a follow-up lesson, another book, If Not for the Cat by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by renowned artist Ted Rand, could be introduced to the students—if a teacher is ready to discuss living things. Seventeen animals are described here in unpredictable and masterful ways.
The authors of The Haiku Handbook included lesson plans on pages 151 to 177. Teachers can use these lessons as a guide, adding their own creativity based on their interests.
This type of poetry allows children to explore knowledge in many subjects on their own terms. Young minds often think in short sentences, pictures, or just simple words that don’t need a teacher’s corrections because that’s the beauty of expressing yourself in haiku—reflect simply on our surroundings and feel pure emotions.
References
William J. Higginson and Penny Harter, The Haiku Handbook, How to Write, Teach, and Appreciate Haiku, Kodansha International, New York 1989, Tradepaper edition 2009
Tim Myers, Basho and the Fox, Marshall Cavendish, New York 2000
Dawnine Spivak, Grass Sandals, The Travels of Basho, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, New York 1997
Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree, HarperCollins Publishers, New York 1964, renewed 1992
Sally M. Walker, Earth Verse, Haiku from the Ground Up, Candlewick Press, Somerville, Massachusetts 2018
Jack Prelutsky, If Not for the Cat, Greenwillow Books, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publisher 2004
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anna Nike Leskowsky
Anna Nike Leskowsky is a retired elementary school teacher. Her creative and journalistic writings and her artwork have been featured in Canadian magazines, papers, and college textbooks. Anna lives in Toronto.
This article is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Spring 2025 issue.
